As we face a new year that will bring a combination of new and old threats to church-state separation, I take inspiration from the success Americans United achieved in 2025. Buoyed by our supporters and our allies, we scored several significant victories against Christian Nationalism while growing our movement for freedom without favor and equality without exception. Hereâs a look back at 10 of our wins from the last year:
AU and allies have filed five lawsuits challenging laws in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas that mandate Ten Commandments displays in every public school classroom. Every court that has ruled in these cases so far has found these laws to be unconstitutional and blocked school districts from displaying the Ten Commandments. Our attorneys are gearing up for a crucial en banc hearing in this case on Jan. 20 before the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana. Stay tuned!
AU was 3 for 3 in Oklahoma last year with wins in each lawsuit we litigated to prevent former state Superintendent for Public Instruction Ryan Walters and his allies from forcing Christian Nationalism on Oklahoman students. AU and allies had challenged the approval of what would have been the nationâs first religious public school; the U.S. Supreme Court let stand the decision from the highest court in Oklahoma, which blocked the school from opening.
Just last month the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that Walters and state education officials unlawfully approved new K-12 social studies standards that were infused with Christianity. And the state high court had blocked Walters from spending taxpayer money on Bibles for public schools. On the heels of these repeated losses, Walters resigned last fall and his replacement said he had no plans to implement Waltersâ Bible-instruction mandate, so the court recently dismissed that case.
In October, AU demanded public records from the Department of Justice and the General Services Administration as part of an investigation into Trumpâs Religious Liberty Commission that has promoted Christian Nationalism since its inception last spring. AU President and CEO Rachel Laser has described the commissionâs hearings as church services, with the majority of them occurring at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. AU submitted extensive written public comments before each commission meeting, explaining the real threats to religious freedom and the role church-state separation plays in guarding against these threats.
For nearly a decade President Donald Trump has tried to âget rid of and totally destroyâ the Johnson Amendment, a federal law that protects the integrity of both our elections and nonprofits by ensuring tax-exempt organizations donât endorse or oppose partisan political candidates. When his Internal Revenue Service last summer proposed to settle an ongoing lawsuit by radically reinterpreting the law to allow houses of worship (but not secular organizations) to endorse candidates, AU immediately sought to intervene in the lawsuit to defend the law. Though the court last month denied AUâs motion to intervene, our attorneys were able to participate in a November court hearing and urged the court to reject the settlement agreement; weâre awaiting the courtâs decision.
In September, AUâs Public Policy experts began distributing a âKnow Your Rightsâ guide to help federal workers and agencies understand their rights and responsibilities regarding religious freedom in the workplace. The guide was spurred by a memo circulated by Trumpâs Office of Personnel Management last summer; the OPM guidance was filled with disinformation that could lead to religious coercion and even harassment of federal workers and the public. AU is encouraging any federal workers who experience a religious freedom violation in their workplace to report it to us at au.org/report-a-violation.
When the Departments of Veterans Affairs and State became the first federal agencies to announce they were urging employees to report allegations of âanti-Christian discriminationâ as part of Trumpâs creation of an âAnti-Christian Biasâ Task Force, AU began investigating. When the agencies failed to fulfill AUâs requests for information as required by the Freedom of Information Act, we sued. Those cases are pending.
In October, a Massachusetts court blocked Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch and other city officials from installing two large statues of Catholic saints outside a new public safety building in this Boston suburb. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by AU and allies on behalf of a multifaith group of Quincy residents, who oppose the city spending $850,000 on religious statues that violate the separation of church and state. AUâs Laser noted the statues would send âa message to all who rely on city services that one faith is favored over all others.â The lawsuit is ongoing.
The Summit for Religious Freedom (SRF, pronounced âsurfâ) continued to grow in 2025 and will be back for a fourth year April 25-27, 2026. SRF is the annual gathering at the heart of a growing, justice-rooted movement to protect inclusive religious freedom, church-state separation and the issues that depend on them â including inclusive public schools, racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive freedom, and more. Itâs where we come together to defeat Christian Nationalists and other extremists that threaten a pluralistic democracy where everyone can thrive. The in-person conference will return to Alexandria, Va., and Washington, D.C.; a curated selection of sessions will be available virtually. Register now to take advantage of the early-bird discount!
AU has been part of the coalition defending public education from the Trump administrationâs attacks. We elevated the voices of faith leaders who opposed the inclusion of the first-ever nationwide private school voucher plan in Trumpâs âbig, beautifulâ tax bill (though the program was created and is expected to funnel billions to private, mostly religious schools, public education advocates were able to limit the scope of the program). AU denounced Trumpâs plans to gut the U.S. Department of Education and turn public schools into Christian Nationalist re-education camps. And weâre prepared to respond if the forthcoming guidance Trump has said heâd issue regarding âthe right to prayer in our public schoolsâ misstates studentsâ, parentsâ, and/or educatorsâ rights to religious freedom.
Our movement continues to grow â especially among younger people as we plan for the future of our fight. In the fall AU welcomed the sixth cohort of our Youth Organizing Fellowship program â a paid opportunity for young people to grow as leaders, build power with other youth organizers across the country, and advocate for the separation of church and state. Weâre also preparing for the fifth cohort of the Legal Academy, a project Americans United leads in partnership with 15 impact-litigation organizations to train and build a supportive network for the next generation of civil rights lawyers.
These initiatives plus our Student Contest, our internships, our youth scholarships to SRF and more are all intended to inspire and empower young people to get involved. Beyond that, weâve added significantly to AUâs staff; grown our AU Action Network and Faith Leaders United program; successfully launched a pilot program to engage social media influencers to promote church-state separation; and are completing a new strategic plan to continue and expand our movement.
Thank you for being part of the fight for church-state separation â the shield that protects everyoneâs right to live as themselves and believe as they choose. You can continue your support in the new year with a gift to our Freedom Without Favor Fund, our ambitious 4-year, $5 million project that is critical in the fight to protect our democracy and defend the rights of all Americans. All donations will help power the legal, policy, and grassroots work needed to help stop Christian Nationalists from gutting our rights and freedoms.Â
Letâs resolve to keep the momentum going in 2026!
